Zhek: It Shines a Lonely Light
by Hawki
Summary: Zhek Oneshot: Even in the darkness of space, the brightest light can be found.


_A/N_

 _This is based on_ Zhek _by Andy Weir. Or rather, what little we know of the book, namely that it has telepathy, aliens, and faster than light travel. So, decided to write a story based on all three._

* * *

 **It Shines a Lonely Light**

It was a long way to KIC 8462852.

The F-type main-sequence star was 1,480 light years from Earth. The _Tabetha S. Boyajian_ , the fastest starship ever constructed by humanity, was able to travel at one-hundred times faster than the speed of light. A velocity that would be considered excessive in most cases of extra-solar travel. And yet, at that speed, it had taken the _Tabby_ fourteen years, eight months, and twenty-one days to arrive at its destination.

Such were André Benton's thoughts as he looked at the mission clock in the ship's cryo bay. Standard operating procedure was to wake up the crew sequentially in the event of employing stasis technology. Pilot first, then captain. Glancing at the two empty pods beside him, he could surmise that SOP had been followed.

"You awake Captain?"

Even if SOP was a bit different this time. But regardless, he walked over to the cryo room's intercom.

"Benton here. Good to hear you Ronnie."

 _You know you can teep me. I don't mind._

"You too. Got Charlie up there with you?"

"Yeah."

 _Don't go there André._

"How's our situation?"

"Optimal. We're two light minutes from KIC. Speaking for myself, it's a sight to behold."

"Good. I'll head up now."

 _Are you really that insecure?_

 _Shut up pan-brain._

André sighed. Ronnie wouldn't hear it. But Ronnie had always been the timid one. Always the one following him. Always the one refusing to use her gifts. More powerful than his, yet they sputtered like a dying star. One that was about to be sucked into a black hole, and would welcome the ignominy.

 _And that's why we're out here then,_ he thought to himself, making sure that his thoughts were private. _Ignominy. We could arrive back on Earth and find that no-one's even remembered that we left._

Nevertheless, he left the cryo bay and headed for the bridge. Sol was long behind them.

A star of a different kind beckoned.

* * *

"Captain on deck!"

André grunted in response. Charlie was their pilot, and the youngest person aboard of the ten man crew. Where he lacked in experience, he made up for with skill and enthusiasm. And while skill was something André welcomed, enthusiasm-

"Here Sir. I made you some coffee."

…was something that he could do without. Nevertheless, he smiled and accepted it.

 _I hate coffee._

 _I know._

He glanced at Ronnie. Her eyes met his for a moment before she turned away. André almost pursued the issue, but instead settled for instant coffee, kept in a plastic bag for fifteen years. He grimaced as the bitter liquid poured down his throat.

"So there it is," Charlie said, spinning around in his pilot's chair. He threw out his arms towards the star that loomed in the distance. KIC number something. A.k.a. Tabby's Star. Behold!" He spun round again to face his captain. "The final frontier!"

André grimaced, and not just because of the coffee. "I thought the _Steven Hawking_ travelled a bit further."

"Bah, pansies!" Charlie spun round again, and André put his coffee by a nearby terminal. "They didn't get to find a giant hula hoop in space, did they?"

"No, but they did …" Ronnie trailed off. "Never mind."

André frowned – not only was Ronnie afraid of teeping, she was afraid of speaking as well.

 _I'm not afraid._

 _Liar._ But he wouldn't hold that against her. Not yet at least. Because Charlie was being as enthusiastic as ever, and André was letting it get to him.

Two light minutes from the star, they could see the superstructure that surrounded it. A giant ring – not like the rings of a gas giant, but an actual solid, artificial ring. It had been theorized centuries ago, confirmed decades ago, and now, finally, actually observed up close. Mankind had mastered faster than light travel, but long-range observation of extra-solar systems was still problematic due to a star's glare. The knowledge that mankind was not alone in the universe was old news. But at least here, there was solid, undisputable proof that an alien civilization had existed in the past. Had mastered technology of the kind that could allow them to build star-circling megastructures.

"André?" Ronnie asked.

He looked at her. "What?"

"Your mouth. If you leave it open, it's going to get dusty."

He quickly closed it. "You've done preliminary analysis, right?"

"Hmm." She walked over to a terminal and activated it. A moment later, a holographic display of facts and figures appeared. "It's as we theorized. It's a form of solar power. The structure harnesses the sun's energy and directs it to the third planet of the star system."

"Is it still active?"

"Yes. Still sending out approximately two-hundred yotta watts per minute."

"Yotta?" Charlie asked.

"Ten to the power of twenty-four."

"Oh."

Charlie looked a bit less happy. Smirking, André patted him on the shoulder. "Cheer up," he said. "Few years' time and there'll be children reading about you in history books."

Charlie shook his head. "Nah. It's just, well, makes you feel a bit small don't it?"

"Doesn't," Ronnie corrected.

"That oh, sure, we're out here, and we can sail the stars, but we can't build nothing-"

"Anything."

"-like that yet." He slouched back in his chair. "Besides, no-one remembers the pilot. People only remember the first people who walked on a world."

"Frankly, right now, I don't think anyone's going to care who steps out onto Flux first," André said. "But let's get down to it." He looked at Ronnie. "We'll proceed as planned. The _Tabby_ will remain here for observation, while the shuttle carries the survey team down to Flux." He glanced at Ronnie. "You'll be coming of course."

She swallowed. "That's the plan."

 _Dr Warwick is an accomplished astrophysicist. You know why you're needed on the planet's surface._

"So," Ronnie said, ignoring him. "We all set? Can we thaw out the rest of the crew?"

"Sure," Charlie said. "Sun can pretty much do it for us, eh?" He glanced at André. "I mean, it's your call of course boss."

"Sure. Begin the process. Ronnie and I will get suited up."

"Sir?"

"What? You think I was going to remain on the ship?"

"Well, that's SOP. And-"

"And breaking it is my prerogative." He slapped a hand on Ronnie's shoulder. "Besides, I'm just looking out for my sister."

Charlie smiled uneasily. And André couldn't blame him.

But if there was anyone making him uneasy on this trip, it was Ronnie herself

* * *

 _Is this it Ronnie? Is this how it's going to be?_

 _Shut up André._

 _Ronnie, no-one cares that you're a teeper. Everyone_ knows _you're a teeper._

 _I said shut up._

 _The only reason you're on this trip is that you're a teeper who-_

"I said shut up!"

Ronnie slammed her helmet against the shuttle's wall. Their pilot looked around in surprise. Doctors Ming, Scott, and Ramilo glanced their way. And André pressed his attack.

"She's a teeper," André said. "Telepathy, and more importantly, technopathy. We all know that, right?"

Uneasy affirmations filtered throughout the cabin.

"I mean, yeah, psychics still get a bad rep in places. And the less said about when they started emerging, the better. But I'm your captain. I'm a teeper. And am I afraid to admit it? No." He glanced at Ronnie. "And nor should our science officer, am I right?"

"Yes Captain."

"Of course Captain."

"Good." He looked back at Ronnie.

 _They're afraid of me._

 _And does that matter?_

"Of course it matters," she whispered. She put on her helmet, sealing it with a hiss. "God damn it, the only reason I'm out here is because teepers work better in proximity to one another."

"And you're also a technopath. Ramilo is the best xeno-archaeologist the world's ever seen, and even he can't hold a candle to your talents."

 _And how does he feel about that?_

André put on his helmet. They'd nearly cleared the atmosphere.

 _Well, let me tell you. Not happy._ "Testing."

"Testing," André said, over his radio.

"Testing," Ronnie repeated. She sighed. "Gifts. That's what they called them. Well, let me be normal rather than gifted any day."

"Normal's overrated. Being normal is being what society expects you to be. Nothing more."

"Is that why you're not on the mothership?"

"Course it is." He smirked. _You already know that._

André didn't see her frown as he walked up to the cockpit. By this stage everyone in the shuttle was wearing an atmo-suit bar their pilot. Lieutenant Iredale always liked a "hands on approach" as he called it. And André let him.

"Altitude?"

"Ninety-three klicks. We're still in the mesosphere."

"Readings?"

"Seventy percent nitrogen, twenty percent oxygen, five percent trace gasses."

"Temperature?"

"Surface temperature at twenty-one degrees Celsius."

André nodded – analysis corroborated what long-range spectrometers had suggested. Flux was a verdant world – one with acceptable parameters of atmospheric composition, temperatures, gravity, and protection from solar winds given its ozone layer. One which showed signs of depletion at its poles. Not that they were going to take off their suits anytime soon, but-

 _Alien world. Don't ruin the moment._

The thought was his own, and Ronnie was welcome to it. But as they dropped through the sky, as they saw their destination loom below, all manner of thought left him. Replaced by wonder.

"Iredale," he murmured. "Give a HUD feed."

Iredale obliged. And the shuttle's lower camera began transmitting images to all of their suits' heads-up displays.

"Wow," someone said over the intercom.

' _Wow.' God help me if that's the first word spoken on the surface._

"Amazing," came another voice.

'Amazing' was a term that he found far more acceptable – first words on surfaces had stopped being interesting decades ago, and he hadn't come with a speech prepared. But "amazing" was a word he would have been fine with using himself.

They were passing through the stratosphere, but already they could see solid material. Specifically buildings that stretched up towards them, their jagged spires standing erect in the air. Literal skyscrapers, taller than the highest mountains of Earth, taller than anything humanity had constructed on any planet. And was it a surprise, he asked himself? This was a race who'd constructed a solar array around their star to provide power to their world. An alien species that could construct something like this (not to mention maintain it), would need all the power it could get.

"I can feel them."

He looked over at Ronnie. "Pardon?"

"I…" She trailed off. "Nothing."

André frowned. The brother in him pushed him to ask what was wrong. The captain in him asked the same.

But the explorer told him to wait.

A whole new world awaited them.

* * *

The city was even more magnificent seen from its surface than above.

From above, the spires had been reaching towards them. Towards Man in Heaven, like a Tower of Babel that had drawn humanity towards it and not had the side effect of scattering them across the Earth. Down here, Babel was before them. Drawing them in.

"Wow," someone said.

Though possibly still reducing the breadth of human communication. But right now, he could live with it. Plenty of other adjectives would likely be used over their period here.

He walked down the street in silence, observing the spires around him, like the gravestones of the dead. He felt like a child, and not only because of the feeling of age, but the very design of the city itself. There were roads, but no footpaths. There were no doors his size that led into the buildings, but giant open maws. To a human, they came off as being like tombs. But he doubted this was the case. Aerial analysis had shown how the city lacked any kind of overall plan. It had apparently grown naturally over time, and was one of many cities on the planet. All of them bereft of life, yet none bereft of light. Solar power was being beamed down to them, the structures themselves somehow converting it into electric energy without any apparent conductor. Ramilo had theorized that the very material they were constructed of was keeping them powered. He took a breath – Charlie had said being in the presence of the ring had made him feel small. Down here, he was miniscule.

 _André?_

He stopped walking. _Ronnie?_

 _Here._

He followed the voice. Their radios were working perfectly – he so far hadn't authorized anyone to take off their suits due to the risk of alien pathogens. So Ronnie teeping him was either a sign that she'd begun to grow up or-

 _Or what?_

He couldn't say. But it didn't take him long to find her. She was in one of the buildings, standing in the light – the interior was lit up, the result of the power still being transferred even with no-one there to need it. The suit suddenly felt like an impediment. That he was poorly dressed, or overly dressed, or…whatever word could be used to describe spacemen that walked around the interior of buildings with dimensions so grand he felt like an ant in a church.

"Ronnie?" he asked.

She glanced at him through her helmet. She was smiling.

"They're here," she whispered.

"Huh?"

She held up her fight hand. The suit's glove had been taken off.

"Roonnie, you know-"

"Techopathy," she said. "Sensing imprints in mechanical devices left by biological beings." She walked towards him. "They were here, André. An entire race. I can feel them."

She held out her hand to him, as her other remained on a piece of stone. The palm faced upwards, the light of the departed shining on it. The captain in him wanted him to order her to put it back on. The brother in him pushed him to do likewise and link their abilities.

The brother won. And he saw.

He saw the city as it had been – not different from as it stood now. The builders had constructed it to last. Not out of posterity, but for their own living. He saw the builders themselves – "chimera." It was the only word for them. Ten legs like insects, carrying the body that was like a cow or horse, with ten more arms extending from the front of the torso. Giant creatures that were five metres tall.

And yet their eyes were human. Ten of them. Always ten. Shining gold, and blue, and green. Their mouths were covered with feelers – ten as well. They didn't even need to talk – telepathy was not something that they developed later. Telepathy was something that they always had. They were…superior. There was no other word for it. It was as if he were peering into the domain of gods.

 _André?_

Gods no longer in the realm of mortals. Had they fallen? Or ascended?

 _André!_

In the shadow of Babel, he reached out…

 _Snap out of it!_

And fell back to Earth. Or Flux. What difference was there now?

He exhaled within his helmet, his breath sticking to the inside of the visor. Yet through it he could see his sister. Looking down at him in concern.

"Are you alright?" she asked. "You were drifting."

André remained silent. He put his glove back on and took her hand.

"André?"

"What about you?" he asked.

"I…" She trailed off, before smiling. "I'm fine, actually."

"Really?"

"Yes. Seeing them. Actually _feeling_ them, André. It's…it's like I'm no longer afraid. An entire civilization of telepaths." She sighed. "It's really something isn't it?"

"Yeah," he said. "I guess it is."

He wasn't sure. The captain in him urged caution.

Yet his sister was happy. The brother in him could take solace in that.

 _D'aww, thanks._

The brother in him always won.


End file.
